


A Lonely Queen

by crystallineflowers



Category: Aveyond
Genre: F/M, Minor Violence, Post-Canon, like minor description, little to no dialogue, so you can read this as friendship or something else, the rhenxlars is only hinted at
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 12:49:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14020599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystallineflowers/pseuds/crystallineflowers
Summary: Rhen has just barely managed to settle into her life as Queen of Thais. One problem - she is all alone. The memories of killing Dameon haunt her and keep her up at night, and she has no one to turn to.At least, not until the Empress of the Eastern Isle sends over teachers for the School of War and Magic.





	A Lonely Queen

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a Secret Santa gift for someone on Tumblr. The event kinda fell through, but I wanted to post this anyway!
> 
> This is a sort of drabble-style thing that I liked. It's supposed to be RhenxLars, but you can read it as friendship if you want - I think that, no matter what, they are really important to each other.

Those that are able stay with her through her coronation. She holds her parents close as they cry for her, as she tells them they can live in Thais if they want. She lets Elini fix her hair beneath her heavy crown. She lets Lars teach her how to walk in heels and not step on the hem of her dress.

But then they are leaving, saying tearful goodbyes in the port of Thais, waving to John and Elini as they fly away on the dragon.

Rhen is alone.

 

~

 

Two years pass before she hears from the isles again.

The Empress of the Eastern Isle is sending over teachers and students to study at the School of War and Magic, which has recently reopened. The Empress did not give Rhen names of those she is sending. Rhen orders quarters cleared out in the castle for the new teachers – historically, professors had lived in the castle, and Rhen is more than happy to have more company about. She gets along well with her handmaid, but she has no true friends here, and the halls are too quiet.

 

~

 

Rhen watches the ships come into port from her balcony. She had meant to go down to greet them properly, but she had barely been able to drag herself to the council meeting today, so she opted to let them come to her.

She is sitting at her armoire, staring at nothing, when her handmaid enters and tells her the new teachers have arrived and are eager to meet her.

 

~

 

They meet her in the Grand Hall, where she revealed her heritage and her signet ring all those months ago. It feels as if a lifetime has passed. Rhen is no longer Rhen Darzon, a simple maid thrown into a life of chaos. She is Queen Rhen Pendragon of Thais, the warrior queen who saved the world.

It is lonely being the savior.

Rhen sees a familiar head of green hair, and she nearly cries even as he delivers his formalities perfectly. She allows him to bow, allows the sword singer to introduce herself, and gathers her wits enough to inform them that they have quarters in the castle if they choose to live there.

The sword singer politely declines, but Lars happily accepts. Somewhere in her, Rhen knows she expected him to.

It isn’t until they are alone, and Rhen has shown Lars his new home, that she breaks down and hugs him, sobbing into his shoulder. He holds her tightly, and she doesn’t notice the tears running into her hair.

 

~

 

Lars settles in quickly, comfortable in this world of nobles. She offers him a seat on her council – she cannot trust these old men who ruled in her absence. She needs someone with a like a mind, someone who understands her reasoning.

He agrees, and tells her of his accomplishments as High Sorcerer back home. When he mentions that he fought to abolish slavery, she breaks down again. She is thankful they are alone. Few people have seen her tears.

 

~

 

The rest of the council do not take kindly to their newest addition, at least not at first. Lars quickly worms his way into their hearts with his noble charm, but Rhen can see right through him. She fights to keep her face neutral as he lies through his teeth with flattery.

Her good humor is ruined when they bring up – again – her lack of a husband. She can feel Lars’ eyes on her, but she refuses to look at him. She stares the others down with steel in her gaze and reminds them that she holds more power as a single woman. She tells the council she does not wish to give up that tactical advantage.

She looks at Lars when the meeting is over, and she knows he can see through her lies.

 

~

 

The days pass. Rhen visits the school a few times a week, but she is not sure why. She tells herself it is just to provide support for the new teachers. She even assists in a lesson with the sword singer teacher – she is young, but still older than Rhen. Rhen explains to the class how Swords of Power work, and though she has used many in her travels, her mind only goes to one. The Sword of Shadows calls to her, even now.

Rhen finds herself in Lars’ office every time she visits, laughing about something a student has done, or venting about how inept the councilmen are at ruling. She realizes after a while that she is actually happy, or at least as happy as she can be in her situation.

 

~

 

Lars inserts himself into Rhen’s life as if he had never left. As if he belonged with her. She finds herself smiling more, bickering lightheartedly with him. They meet occasionally at night, restless from nightmares of their past, and Rhen finds herself seeking him out when she can’t sleep. She had forgotten had much she valued his friendship, and how important he is to her.

Eventually, she asks about the others. Lars tells her in a quiet voice that he hasn’t spoken to anyone in months, maybe a year. As far as he knows, Elini and John are still happily married, and Te’ijal and Galahad have settled in Ghed’are. Mad Marge continues to run that disgusting pub on the tiny island in the middle of the sea.

Lars hesitates before talking about Devin, the new sun druid. He knows this is a sensitive subject for Rhen. She grips her dress tightly in her fist, trying to keep the memories at bay and failing.

She hears the Sword of Shadows in her mind, whispering things she wishes she could forget. Ahriman laughs as she faces Dameon. She can feel his dying breath on her cheek again, can smell his blood on her hands.

Lars touches her arm, bringing her back from the past, and she falls into his embrace, willing herself to forget.

 

~

 

In truth, Rhen does not ever want to get married. She feels as if her capacity to love died the day she killed Dameon.

But… Talia was able to move on, as was Devin, if what Lars tells her is true. She begins to hold some hope that she, too, can learn to love again.

She will never marry for politics, she tells herself. She will never marry just because someone tells her she should. She will never marry someone who could never understand what she went through.

She realizes, belatedly, that this leaves a very short list of potential husbands. She is not sure how to feel about that.

 

~

 

The news of a demon to the east comes with a shock.

The nobles in her court look on in horror as a survivor recounts his tale. _We were working in the mine_ , he says, mining jewels for trade. There was a rumble, and a sudden cold, and icicles everywhere, and the sound of a woman laughing. He tells Rhen that his blood runs cold at the sound of that laugh, for it was full of malice.

Rhen knows of whom he speaks, but she hopes she is wrong. She stands, her crown heavy on her head, and suddenly she is their warrior queen, giving orders to collect her guard and their elite squad to join her on this demon hunt. As the onlookers mutter amongst themselves, Lars moves to stand beside her. They lock eyes, and she merely nods before making a swift exit to change into her armor.

 

~

 

Rhen looks every bit as deadly as she is made out to be when she meets with the council to inform them of her imminent absence. Her hair is braided back, done by her own hand, and her brow is set. A thin, light tiara glitters in her hair, something to remind her people that she is their queen. She holds her head high, far more comfortable in her tunic and armor than she ever will be in her dresses. She can tell by their eyes that they have forgotten that she defeated Ahriman and saved the world.

They beg her not to go for fear of something happening to her, but she asserts herself. _Try and stop me_ , she tells them just before she walks out, Lars close by her side.

 

~

 

Her warriors are fierce, and they fight the monsters in the cave valiantly. She wonders briefly where they had all come from. The mines were clear just a few days ago.

It is the demon inside. It has to be.

They delve deeper, Rhen taking point and Lars protecting the rear. She is unused to commanding so many people in battle. She is used to a small party, full of people who need no instruction, but here the people look to her for guidance.

They make it to the deepest part of the cave, and Rhen can see her breath in the sudden cold. She locks eyes with Lars, who is by her side in an instant.

_They are all going to die if they go in there,_ she thinks. _Indra will kill them all._

She orders her warriors to retreat. The captain of her guard says she must be crazy, but she is firm, and soon enough they are all gone, albeit begrudgingly. Lars is the only one who stays, though it is most likely due to his own stubbornness. If Rhen could, she would order him to go back to Thais, where he would be safe within the castle walls.

But Lars has always had a habit of sticking by her no matter what she says, so here he stands.

She would trust no one else by her side.

 

~

 

Indra wastes no time in trying to kill Rhen. She doesn’t even flinch at the spear of ice shooting towards her – she knows that Lars will take care of it. She knows that he has her back.

Rhen draws the Sword of Dreams, a relic from her past, and throws herself into the fight.

 

~

 

They are battered and bruised and bloody, but they are alive.

Rhen has her sword poised above Indra’s throat, ready to strike the final blow. She finds herself wishing she had the Sword of Shadows, so that Indra would be trapped forever within it, no longer able to cause harm to her people.

Indra senses her hesitation, however brief, and grins. _Where is your precious sun priest,_ she hisses. Rhen fumbles the blow and lodges her sword into the demon’s shoulder, leaving herself open.

Lars cannot stop Indra’s attack, not when they are so close. He calls to Rhen, his voice breaking, as she falls, impaled by ice. Indra wheezes a final laugh and fades away, her magic spent.

 

~

 

Rhen comes to slowly, her entire world colored with pain, a bitter taste in her mouth. She cracks her eyes open to see Lars hovering over her, his face pale. He makes a sound of relief and wraps his arms around her, pulling her close to press her forehead to his. She breathes in his scent, and grimaces when the breath causes her pain.

_I was so worried_ , he whispers. _You weren’t waking up. The cassia leaf wasn’t working. I thought you were gone._

_Oh,_ she realizes, something in her clicking into place as she hears his broken voice. _Oh._

_I won’t leave you,_ she whispers back, reaching up to with a shaky hand to cup his cheek. It is wet with tears. _I will never leave you._

**Author's Note:**

> Btw, in this fic, Rhen doesn't have the fairy dust to bring Dameon to his senses when they fight Ahriman. So she's forced to kill him. Of course, he comes back to his senses when he's dying, so that's fun for Rhen :D
> 
> I'm kinda working on a multi-chapter thing that fits under this same premise, but we'll see if I ever get that out.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this!


End file.
